For Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic in Russia, one
solution is to pose for photos with Mohammed Salah, one of the
best soccer players on the planet, who has come to Russia to
compete in the 2018 World Cup.

Taking a photograph with Salah is a propaganda coup for Kadyrov,
enabled by the mechanics of a Russian-run World Cup which put one
of the most-loved stars of the game on his doorstep.

What is Egypt's team doing in Chechnya?

Egypt setting up camp in Grozny, Chechnya's capital, makes sense
in some ways. There is halal food, access to the Akhmad Kadyrov
Mosque - one of the largest in Russia, and the team is staying in
a luxury hotel where bi-lingual staff speak Arabic and English.

A gay man who fled Chechnya told BBC
under anonymity last year that he was beaten and subjected to
electro-torture. He said his home country had been "exterminating
gay men" until "there are none left in the republic."

He said: "Chechens have no right to be gay. They have to be
warriors, straight, sportsmen. Being gay is just not acceptable
for them."

Kadyrov met the team last Sunday at a public training session in
front of 8,000 fans, and the world's media.

There was one notable absentee, though - Mohamed Salah, a forward
who rivals soccer legends like Lionel Messi. In his last season,
Salah scored 43 goals for Liverpool FC, and in the process became
a sporting hero for many.

He is still recovering from an injury in his last game, and so at
the Kadyrov training session he was asleep, in his hotel room,
instead of on the field.

Kadyrov, not to be outdone by Salah's inconvenient injury, needed
his photograph. Here it is.

source

AP Images

The World Cup is usually a story of bringing countries and fans
together. It turns athletes into heroes and can create superstars
from a single moment.

But this narrative is at obvious odds with Kadyrov's Chechnya as
it stands. Good PR moments like his shot with Salah are part of
an attempt to reverse this.

On hosting Egypt in Grozny, Jambulat Umarov, Chechnya's minister
of national policy, press, and information, is quoted by the New York Times to
have said: "It's all about a positive image of the Chechen
Republic. It's about dispelling myths."

He met both former World Cup winners at the official draw for the
2018 FIFA World Cup, last year.

But these photo opportunities mask the inclusive nature of sport,
of soccer, and of its most prestigious event - the World Cup.

The World Cup is helping to turn the narrative around Putin,
following years in the cold on the world stage.

Only a few months ago, most of the western world pulled diplomats
from Russia over the assassination attempt on former spy Sergei
Skripal in England.

International investigators recently said a Russian missile
launcher was behind the shooting down of flight MH17 over
Ukraine, and Putin continues to receive criticism for the 2014
annexation of Crimea.

But an event of the magnitude of the World Cup, are an enormous
distraction from that, and a chance for leaders like Putin and
Kadyrov to preside over a huge global event and rack up kudos.

The images from the build-up will only be the beginning. Like
with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Putin will have amassed
more proof that Russia can host the world as well as anybody.

Meanwhile, the many things which make Russia nothing like much of
the rest of the world remain forgotten.